Twiga Group- the village women's project

A week ago today we traveled back to Arusha: our time in Mnenia village was finished- for this time. The standing question of the last few days there was "when will you come back?"
Following is a sequence of experpts from my journal to capture my time with the women of Twiga group, building their store in the village of Mnenia.

Dec 4
In the village there's not much available. Especially building supplies, either more expensive or not available at all.
On the 2nd day of each month there's a bigger market in Kolo: there you can buy clothing, shoes, roofing, baked goods, vegetables, cookware, tools, livestock and more. One can imagine that this becomes an important event in the life of the villagers.
The next larger town is Kondoa- 25 km from Mnenia , and if you can't get what you need there you have to travel 8o km to Babati. There are daily buses in both directions.
We tried to be very organized and purchase and load all supplies in Arusha when we went to pick up Sue and Sean.
A problem with the vehicle held us up on Tuesday so we didn't leave until 4 pm.  I was glad to leave the busyness of the town and head back out towards the village. We stayed the night in Babati on the lake. Our hope for a visit by the hippos that night did not get fulfilled, so we hired a fisherman to paddle us out to see them in the morning. Still no luck- all we got was their sound - no visual.
Arrival at camp meant unpacking everything and setting up kitchen and tents . Just when we had everything tucked in a thunderstorm blew in and tested all our tents and setup with strong gusty wind and rain coming horizontally. All was well and we took a deep breath!

Thursday came and time for the beginning celebration. The women had prepared the site with colourful strips of fabric, flowers and a few palm fronds for decoration. In the morning we slaughtered a goat for the occasion that later was eaten with the pilau.
Official beginning of the event was at two pm or saa nane- eight swahili time.
The women started by performing traditional dances to welcome us into the community. The village dignitaries were present and a master of ceremonies.
He gave me the name Mma Matumaini-(that means Hope) and everyone liked that. I received a black shirt, kanga and string of white beads and was asked to cut the ribbon for the other small structure that had been built.
Next the group presented me with a few local traditional gourd and clay cooking dishes.
I spoke a little to them about my hopes for the project and presented a unity flag to Twiga group. With all formalities finished it was time to eat and finally dancing in the square where Sue and I joined the women for a few dances.

After such a good beginning I was very excited to start work the next day. Everyone showed up as agreed at eight with hoes and shovels to excavate.
But first we had to decide on the final positioning of the building. The door will face onto the square where the waterfountain is and you can see the porch from the workshop as well as the road, so that when things are displayed outside they will be easily visible.
With many hands the digging was done quickly. A tractor load of stone was delivered and we started to build a dry stone foundation.
Teatime offers opportunity for a little bit of "shule" some short talks about things around the building, structure and process.

Mama fundi: Zenia

Dec 10
Snapshot of yesterday morning.
We now work on scaffolding made from Sisal poles. Sara is is now pretty competent at cutting "corner"bricks and works with three or four others: someone getting udongo,someone handing bricks, someone on the scaffold with her to spread the mud and fill the joints. From the inside of the building you can hear Sue's voice:"level?....level!" as she goes around checking level and plumb. There is another group on the other side also laying bricks and mixing mud. Everybody is engaged, occasionally visitors drop in and help out a bit.
Meanwhile in the backyard, a few women cook the day's meal on a couple of small fires. This is also where people go when they take a short break and need some shade.
Rain has been a daily event lately. Sometimes in powerful thundershowers, then in long periods overnight. Last night everyone in the small tents got wet from a long downpour.
The river at the bottom of the land is high today. We can hear it rushing from the kitchen.
There was an upset in the village and we found out that someone very respected had died when a tree fell on his house. The women needed time out to attend the funeral. So we stopped after tea and went to Kondoa for roof materials.
The road from Kolo to Kondoa is part of the historic "great northern route" from Cairo to Capetown. It's rough- damage from rain and earthmovements, broken bridges . Once again we're grateful for the Land Rover's power.
Massive Baobab trees mark the landscape and I wonder what their story would be if they could tell it.

see more here

Dec. 16
CM is here. His arrival was very much anticipated by the women and boys. At the end of the day yesterday I received a special gift of a fresh chicken with eggs inside that I was to cook for him. Saum help with preparing it and we cooked it in the earthen pot in the cob oven.
Today all the women showed up to welcome us. Seppo and CM brought three bicycles donated by folks in the Cowichan Valley and a sewing machine from Sue- items the women had wished for. Still more bicycles needed but this was a great start!
We danced to welcome CM and then went to work: plaster! We mixed lime and earth and many hands once again made fast work and by lunch time the building was plasterered inside and out.

Dec. 17
Last day on site. We have accomplished a lot. Walls are complete with plaster, the floor is laid and the door is hung. Costa will return in a few days to work with the group to build the roof. The model stove in the store room is finished and a few of the women feel confident to reproduce these.
I watched the women take on this project and my highlights were times when I stood back and saw everyone busy on the building- work divided by aptitude and energy level, and once scaffolding was involved, the older women stayed on the ground. They all mixed mortar and plaster, laid bricks and packed the floor. At one time all of them were inside the building singing and plastering. As they occupy this building they will always know that their own hands built it. It is my hope that they will take these skills home and perhaps do some needed repairwork . 
We had a closing celebration yesterday with a few “speeches”, the presentation of the bicycles and sewing machine, and expressions of gratitude and hope for future cooperation. And one more round of dancing together. Good bye hugs and words and wishes for our journey and then it was done.

Now the faces of Zena, Sara, Zura, the four Hadijas two Hawas , Zaina, Fatuma, Fatima, Mariamu, Hafsa, Maimuna, Rehema, Sewatu and Zaruna are part of my memory of a very special time in their village.
My gratitude extends to Seppo Hallavainio for setting everything up and for being my "brother", to Sue and Sean who stepped out of their comfort zone and joined the project without knowing much beforehand, to Daniel who gracefully danced between languages and cultures and to the village council of Mnenia for their support of this project.

Things will change here and I can’t help but wonder what it will look like a few years from now. Will it still be quiet and dark at night with the sounds of insects, dogs, the wind and the river and human voices? Will the women still wear their traditional dresses with Kangas and headscarves?
What of this lifestyle is important to take into the future and how can their standard of life improve? 
Many questions to take with me and to ponder.